Chip Deffaa has had a busy life with several overlapping careers. From the jazz standpoint, he has been most significant in writing five very valuable books (Voices Of The Jazz Age, In The Mainstream, Swing Legacy, Blue Rhythms, and Traditionalists and Revivalists In Jazz) that are overflowing with historic interviews with veteran jazz artists including many who he caught shortly before their passing, documenting their stories just in time. Deffaa covered the entertainment news for the New York Post for 18 years and became a major force in the world of musical theater, writing 20 published plays including shows that paid tribute to George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin. In addition he has produced 38 albums to date and the pace of his output seems to be accelerating.
Recently on Garret Mountain Records/Chip Deffaa Productions, he compiled two sets of real rarities featuring George M. Cohan and Al Jolson. Cohan and Jolson were never jazz performers but they certainly had a major impact on the American music scene of the 1910-50 period. Arguably the second great American songwriter (after Stephen Foster), George M. Cohan (1878-1942) is today best remembered for “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Give My Regards To Broadway,” “Over There,” and “You’re A Grand Old Flag.”
In addition to the 300 other songs that he wrote, Cohan (a singer, dancer, actor, and producer) wrote more than 50
